'Sure have,' the roustabout said. 'That took balls, that did.' From the bow, Sostratos asked, 'Do you know what happened when the Roman fleet attacked Pompaia? We were up that way, and almost got caught.' 'It came to grief, or that's what I heard,' the Krotonite said. Several sailors clapped their hands together in grim delight. The roustabout went on, 'The sailors and soldiers aboard scattered to plunder, and the folk from all the towns thereabouts - not just Pompaia, but Nole and Noukeria and Akherrai, too - gathered together and drove 'em back to their ships with heavy losses.' More sailors clapped. Some of them cheered. The local added, 'Some people say one Roman ship got wrecked by a merchantman, but you won't get me to swallow that.' 'I wouldn't either, if I were you,' Menedemos said gravely. The sailors who heard him sniggered and brought their hands up to their mouths to keep from laughing out loud. The roustabout gave them curious looks, but nobody said another word, so he shrugged and started to turn away. Before he left, Sostratos asked him, 'How does the marvelous Hipparinos like his peafowl chicks?' 'You're those fellows!' The Krotonite snapped his fingers in excitement. 'I thought you were those fellows, but I wasn't sure, and I didn't like to take the chance. Do you know what happened there? Do you?' 'If we did, would we be asking?' Menedemos did his best to seem the very image of sweet reason. 'That's right, how could you? You're just a pack of polluted foreigners,' the Krotonite said. For Menedemos, sweet reason dissolved in anger. But before he could show it, the local went on, 'Hipparinos, he has this Kastorian hunting hound - you know, brought here all the way from Sparta - he's as proud of as his son. Prouder, probably, on account of all his son wants to do is drink neat wine and screw.' He paused. 'What exactly was I talking about?' 'Peafowl chicks,' Menedemos and Sostratos said together. 'That's right. I sure was.' The roustabout snapped his fingers again. 'Anyway, like I said, he has this hound named Taxis.' Hipparinos, Menedemos thought, would be just the man to name a dog Order. The Krotonite continued, 'And Taxis, he got his first look at these chicks and he ate one up before anybody could tell him not to or grab him to keep him from doing it. You could've heard old Hipparinos screaming from the agora all the way to the guard towers on the wall.' 'I believe that,' Menedemos said. 'His precious hound is even more precious now - it ate up a mina and a half of silver at one gulp.' 'A mina and a half? Is that all?' the local said. 'Is that all?' Sostratos echoed, as if he couldn't believe his ears. 'That's what I said, and that's what I meant,' the Krotonite told him. 'Hipparinos has been saying that miserable little bird cost him five minai.'
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